Schoolgirl whose bracelets raised £5,000 for Zoe’s Place is doing a River of Light Glow Walk

A schoolgirl from Aintree who raised more than £5,500 for Liverpool Zoe’s Place by making friendship bracelets has set herself a bright new challenge.

Lily Williams is still supporting Zoe’s, now Little Lights, but this time she’s planning a 10k walk around the River of Light trail on the waterfront.

The 10-year-old will be joined by friends and classmates from Aintree Davenhill Primary School for a Glow Walk along the waterfront on Saturday October 25.

And, in keeping with the theme, they’ll be all dressed up in bright neon with glowsticks and glow-in-the-dark facepaint.

Mum Lauren has helped her to set up a JustGiving fundraising page which has already raised over £500.

Lily and her pals, and their mums and dads, will be carrying charity collecting buckets and hoping to get even more on the evening.

Lauren said:

“Lily spent about four months making bracelets last year for Zoe’s Place after she heard they were struggling to stay open. We had a production line at home, with Lily on design and me helping, and she ended up making hundreds that we sent as far as Scotland and Newcastle and delivered locally.

“The response was incredible, everyone was really supportive, so when she finished she didn’t want to stop there. She didn’t want people to forget about Zoe’s Place now it’s saved, and for them to them to end up in that position again, so she started thinking of more ideas.

“Her classmates and friends were so good, staying after school to have a craft session and help make lots of bracelets, so I asked if she’d like to do something that involved a few more people this time.

“That’s when we came up with the idea for the Glow Walk because we thought the River Of Light would keep them all entertained on the way around. 

“We were thinking we could all wear neons and bright glow in the dark, then a couple of weeks later they announced Zoe’s was becoming Little Lights so we couldn’t have picked a better name. It was just so fitting, it felt like it was meant to be.”

The River of Light trail itself is shorter than 10k, but Lauren’s planned an extended route, with plenty of pitstops for sweets, singing and dancing along the way.

The start and finish point will be at Pier Head Ferry Terminal by one of the trail installations, and Dip-Dab facepainting will be there before they set off at 5pm, doing free neon designs.

“We’ve got at least 20 kids with their adults taking part, but the more the merrier, we’d be very happy for people to get involved and join us on the evening. They don’t have to be one of Lily’s friends or classmates, they can just come and meet us. 

“I’ll make sure I’ve got lots of glowsticks and extra neon bits and they can get their faces painted. We’d just ask them to try and get sponsored through Lily’s JustGiving link if they can.

“We’ve got collecting buckets from Zoe’s, so hopefully some kind people on the night will want to donate, and there are QR code stickers on the buckets in case people want to donate through JustGiving.

“As Lily’s been going out in community to drop off posters people are donating in cash too, and she’s been sitting outside our house with her bracelet stall, so she already has over £100 to go in bucket.”

Lily’s fundraising efforts and caring nature have seen her named Charity Champion at the Pride of Sefton Award this year and she was invited to switch on her local Christmas lights last December.

Lauren said:

“She’s been nominated in our community for Young Person of the Year too which is lovely,”

“We also got invited to Liverpool Zoe’s Place light switch on so she got to meet some of the kids and families who use the services there which she absolutely loved.

“The nurses and staff were telling the families what Lily had done and they were so grateful and hugging her, it was a really rewarding experience for her which I think she’ll remember for a long time.”

Support Lily’s Glow Walk here.

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